Mark Of The Star ~ Bucky Barnes

5 ~ alone in the forest

"This sucks." You groan to Bucky as he starts making the fire.

"(Y/N), it's survival training. We have to do it."

"I thought the idea of the mission was that you help me survive. Not me keeping myself alive." You tell him and he breathes out a laugh.

"Trust me, this'll be easy. It's just so you can get a feel of what the real mission will be like." Bucky tells you and you sigh and sit down on the log Bucky brought up earlier.

"Where even are we?" You ask him, resting your elbows on your knees, and your chin in your hands. You look around at the abandoned-looking forest that the team brought you to a few hours earlier. You see the tent set up to your left and to your right, there's nothing but bare, dark trees.

"A forest a few minutes away from the facility," Bucky replies as the fire ignites, making a proud look spread across his face. "We only have to stay out here for the night. It'll be easy."

"Maybe for a highly trained assassination soldier." You scoff and Bucky takes a seat next to you on the log, not too close as to not annoy you and make you feel uncomfortable.

"I'm not an assassin." He replies as he plays with a twig he found on the ground.

"Whatever. You know what I mean." You reply, rolling your eyes and deciding you were far too tired to have this conversation with him right now.

"Right." He tells you, looking at you only for a brief second, and looking away again when you don't meet his eye contact.

"I don't understand why I need to do this. Why do they need me for the mission again?" You speak up again after a few minutes of silence, the only sound in earshot being chirping birds getting ready to sleep and the fire crackling.

"Well...you're like...a disguise." He replies and you give him a confused look so he explains more. "If we're going to be camping out and getting intel on Hydra that close to one of their bases, it's not going to help if we're obviously spying. On the unlikely event that they notice us, we want to look like normal people who...got confused about where they were camping...I guess." He continues and you nod slowly, still trying to wrap your head around it all.

"I am a normal person." You tell him and he giggles.

"Exactly." He says.

"But...how are you going to look normal? They'll definitely recognise you." You ask and he looks up from the ground and looks at you.

"I'm cutting my hair." He replies and your eyes widen.

"What?! Really?" You say, a lot louder than you should have if you're supposed to be training to be subtle.

"Yeah." He says between laughs. "I have to take any action necessary to keep you safe on this mission." He continues and you feel your heart skip a beat. You just can't put your finger on why.

Why is this man being so kind to you when all you've been is mean to him? Why is he making you feel warm inside when all the feeling you have towards him is cold? I guess that's something else you'll have to figure out when you're alone together for weeks on end.
(A/N: ;) hehe)

"R-really?" You stutter and he nods. No ones ever really been like this around you before. Telling you they'll look after you and protect you at all costs.

"Of course. You're Tony Stark's little sister. Can you imagine what would happen if I came back without you?" He chuckles softly and your face drops.

"True." You force a smile before Bucky stands up and goes inside the tent, probably to get some water or something, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

You can't stop thinking about how people in your past have only done things for you or been around you because of your older brother, and this felt the exact same. If you were just some random girl who was picked to go on this mission, would Bucky feel the same amount of responsibility to look after you? Would he cut his hair off for you? His signature look that he's had for years.

"(Y/N)? You okay?" Bucky's voice snaps you out of your trance and you look up to him standing by the tent.

"Yeah, tired." You lie but Bucky doesn't seem to notice. Instead, he yawns and holds up the door of the tent for you, so you can get in easily.

"Same. We should probably get some sleep." He tells you and you nod and stand up off of the log, getting inside the tent. Once you're inside, you see two single mattresses on either side and you lay down on one, bringing your knees up. You look up and stare at the dim camping light above your head for a moment, thinking about how you're dreading going on the mission now, even more than before.

"Here," Bucky tells you, handing you a blanket as he crawls onto his mattress. You thank him and lay it over you, bringing your knees back down so you can sleep. You turn off the light above you and Bucky does the same with his, tying his hair up in a bun before laying back down and facing you. "Goodnight (Y/N). Sleep well." He tells you before rolling over to face the wall of the tent.

You sigh and roll over too. It takes you a while to fall asleep with the sounds of the eery forest outside, but eventually, you're met by darkness.

Morning

You sit on the log outside, drinking coffee out of a travel mug that Steve packed for you saying "You'll need this" before shoving it in your bag. Which had made Bucky chuckle at first before he realised Steve meant you needed it because you had to deal with him for a night.

"Morning," Bucky says in his husky morning voice as he yawns and stands up out of the tent, wearing nothing but grey sweatpants. You widen your eyes at him, trying not to stare at his abs.

"Aren't you cold?" You ask and he shakes his head, grabbing his bottle of water as you scoff at him, looking down at your own outfit. You're wearing black sweatpants with a grey hoodie and you're still cold. "You're insane." You mumble to yourself and luckily for you, Bucky doesn't hear you.

"How'd you sleep?" He asks you as he pulls his mattress out and lays it down in front of the tent before sitting on it so he can talk to you.

"Alright. You?"

"Great, actually." He replies, running his metal hand through his hair, and you sigh.

"How? It's so uncomfortable and cold and just overall pretty shit." You reply and he scoffs.

"I'm trained for these conditions." He tells you and you roll your eyes behind his back at how super-soldier-like he is. "Anyway, Steve and the quinjet should be here soon so we should probably pack up all our stuff."

"Okay, sure." You answer and help him start packing up all of your gear, getting ready to finally get out of this dumb forest.

This mission is going to be harder than you thought.

Hii! how are ya:)

hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, I had fun writing it!

thanks for reading & voting & commenting it means the world to me xxx

oki byeeee

love y'all <33